Hyboria. The land we reside on. Someday we will truly be able to call Hyboria home. Someday…a day that is fast approaching due to the efforts of all the founders and members the Acolytes. This is their story.

The Acolytes weren't formed overnight at the whim of some hooligans dissatisfied with their way of life. Before the Acolytes were formed they were enslaved to mine the iron deposits in the hills. The regulations at this time were many and the penalties harsh. This in and of itself was not a problem. The rules were needed for everyone’s safety. No one questioned it. As the planet became further developed, the rules should have been changed to suit the new environment. Hundreds of years passed but the rules didn’t. One place where the rules were the strictest was in the iron mines. Any mistakes and a cave in or explosion could kill you and your fellow miners. However, many of the rules just didn’t make sense after the initial decades of operation. All the prisoner were worked hard and all were equally tortured and some driven to their deaths by overwork. If the prisoners just would not cooperate at all they were sent to prison camps. Children born in the camps had no life to look forward to. It seems the “sins of the father” would ensure a life of slavery for these children. There was little hope for anyone working the mines.


News of the world outside the mines was scarce. Sometime a new inmate would be brought in and all the old prisoners would pick their brains for current events. Light began to shine in the darkness of the mines. After years of struggle it seems that the prisoners had enough of the mistreatment! The people who knew only oppression, toil and heartbreak began to plan their escape.

After several years of planning, training, scrounging weapons and explosives, bribing guards was about to pay off. Many of the older miners and those old before their time decided to make the ultimate sacrifice for the younger inmates who were often their children. At least 60 if not more of these older miners, the parents and grandparents of many Acolyte members, led the attack on the guards at their prison mine. The guards, having grown fat and lazy, were taken totally by surprise. With suicidal bravery they bought enough time for their children and grandchildren to escape. Unfortunately, it is believed that all of those elderly volunteers were killed in action as no word was ever heard from them again. Their sacrifice was not in vain. A very young Redruum led the able bodied miners and all the children throughthe fences that were blown open by carefully hoarded explosives. Patrolling guards killed many as they fled the compound. They killed at least a dozen youths as they scrambled for freedom. Redruum led his bloodied band through mile after dangerous mile of hostile territory to freedom.

The going was hard and several members were lost due to the hostile wildlife that infests Hyboria. They decided to make camp and a memorial service was held for those that lost their lives. Tears flowed freely among all involved and many an oath of revenge was spoken that night. They were determined to become followers of war until their thirst of revenge was satisfied, hence the Acolytes were born!

Early the next morning they arose and noticed they were surrounded by the guards that they tried to escape from the previous day. The children were caught off guard and were not expecting the guards to chase so far, so there was nothing they could do but surrender. As they were being dragged away they all agreed that they shall somehow reunite to carry on their destinies!

Years of continued slavery have passed until one day they find themselves in the bowels of the slave ship. By the luck of the gods their shackles are torn lose when the slave ship gets rammed by a another galley, in the midst of a massive storm, the Acolytes gather with other slaves and start swinging their chains and kill the tormentors holding them captive on the ship. The Acolytes jump off of the ship as the devastating storm starts to sink the slave vessel. The monstrous waves throw them in all different directions until screams are no longer heard. The next day, the Acolytes wash up on to a beautiful beach, but they are all spread so far apart on the beach no one else is in sight. They all start to take their own individual trek inland to try and reunite with their brothers once again. When the Acolytes reunite together free at last, Hyboria is not going to be the same...........all hell is going to break lose!

Be warned the Acolytes are coming!

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Our Goal

The Acolytes is a guild forming for the greatest upcoming mmo to date, Age of Conan! We know that the release of AoC is quite a ways off, but we are trying to get a good core started so we will be prepared to take on the world of Hyboria and whatever it may throw at us. We will be a mature and very active guild that will try and do their part to continue the ongoing story within AoC! We also plan on participating in guild pvp as much as we can and take down our enemies without looking back! Since the Acolytes are letting all races and classes into the guild we will lean more towards the nuetral side of things and set certain objectives for our guild to become as successful as we can be within Hyboria. We will definately not PK people for no good reason. We go after other players only if they have done wrong to one of our members or they are in the way of us accomplishing one of our objectives. We expect Acolyte members will treat each other in a courteous and respectful manner at all times. People join this guild to help one another and form lasting friendships; therefore, it can only be assumed that a friendly attitude is desired towards fellow guildmates and allies. We also ask that you register here on our forums.


Membership/Participation

We are looking for mature players who are willing to join the Acolytes. We want people who love to play mmo's and want to have fun while playing! It will be required to be on our Teamspeak server when the game launches for large pvp battles or raids. It is yet to be determined if we will be using Teamspeak or Ventrillo, but we will definately be using one or the other. The Acolytes also require that you have somewhat of a unique name when you enter into the world of Hyboria. Names with numbers and phrases will not be allowed, other then that let your imagination run wild! We encourage our members to be on as much as they can to help progress their character and the guild. We will have alot of members that are on alot, but we realize there are more important things in life then Age of Conan. We want our members to enjoy themselves while they are immersing themselves in AoC. If our guild can accomplish that, people will want to be around as much as possible. We also ask that you register here on our forums. If you feel that you would be a good fit please stop by the Recruitment Lair on our forums.

Guild Structure

Ethereal
- The Ethereal should be a person that is making sure the overall well being of the guild is at it's full potential and to make sure the guild continues to progress to whatever greatness that it can achieve with the resources available.

Erudite
- The Erudite's are the foundation of the Acolytes. The rest of the guild can depend on the Erudite's to be there for them. Once the game launches each Erudite will have some sort of specialty, be it recruitment, battle plans, resource management, etc. The rest of the guild can come to the Erudite's with any suggestion or complaints that they have. All big decisions regarding the guild will be discussed between the Erudite's and the Ethereal and of course we will always take into consideration what the entire guild feels. Because the Acolytes are nothing without it's members!

Enlightened
-This rank will take full advantage of the great natural leaders we have within this guild. Sub ranks among the Enlightened will help to improve and expand the overall leadership of the guild. For example, people within this rank may be primarily dedicated to the bookkeeping duties of a treasurer, assisting newer members with any questions they may have, or having the responsibility of planning and/or leading major raids or sieges. If they are very well versed within their particular game class they may be considered as class officers.

As you can see this rank will be quite crucial to the Acolytes! Of course the Erudites and Ethereal will be doing things like this for the guild as well, but we do not want any of our members to feel like there is nothing to do within the game. We have already established a decent sized membership, and we can only predict more growth along these lines. We are counting on the people within this rank to help us with the everyday workings and guidance of the guild.

Disciple
- The Disciple is a veteran member of the Acolyte's that has proven that he/she has gone out of their way to make sure the Acolytes are the best that they can be! Depending on the mechanics of the game we shall also have certain Disciple's keep an eye on whatever land masses we obtain through battle.

Adept
- The Adept is recognized as a full member of the Acolytes after the two weeks of recruitment time has passed and have made a good effort to be part of the Acolytes. Also, obtaining Adept status allows access to the guild resources within the guild bank.

Apprentice
- The Apprentice is a person that just joins the Acolytes and must endure the two week recruitment period to display his/her loyalty to the rest of the Acolytes. The Apprentice will not have access to the guild resources at this time for precautionary measures.


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Crafting

There will also be a crafting side to Age of Conan which will be just as vital as the war aspect of the game. We will have an Elder Crafter which will be the head of the five masters of Weaponsmithing, Armorsmithing, Gemcutting, Alchemy, and Architecture. The Eldar Crafter must take up the Crafter prestige class. Any other members that take up the crafter prestige class will work with the Elder Crafter of the Acolytes. If you take up any of the other prestige class and decide to work with crafting as well then you will work with the master of your craft. At this time I do realize that when the game begins everyone will be on the same playing field when it comes to knowledge, but I am trying to set some ground work for the future that we can work with and I think would be helpful for someone new to the guild and wants to learn how to take up weaponsmithing for example. Also, at this time it is hard to say if we will need more then one Elder Crafter. We will adapt as need be.

Elder Crafter of the Acolytes
- Master of Weaponsmithing
- Master of Armorsmithing
- Master of Gemcutting
- Master of Alchemy
- Master of Architecture


Server

With the information that we know currently, which is nothing, we will be on a PVP-RP server and everyone from around the world are more then welcome to join the Acolytes. Currently we have a mix of US, European, Australians, and Norwegians in the guild, so we are open to everyone. Our first objective will be pvp, but we will want to try and continue on the AoC storyline however possible so we will encourage RP'ing, but it is not mandatory.

Also, check out our new guild video:
http://www.the-acolytes.com

AoC Warcry interview of the Acolytes

Acolyte Forums


See you in AoC!
Redruum (Leader)